MENA investors seen as more resilient - Emaar Int'l

Confidence is still lacklustre among investors in the MENA region but markets continue to outperform those in the West, Emaar International's CEO said on Tuesday.

Speaking to Arabian Business on the sidelines of property show Cityscape in Dubai, Sergio Casari, the boss of the largest developer in the Middle East’s international arm, said: “It [MENA] will be more resilient than western markets. They have been less affected by the liquidity crunch that has been experienced in other parts of the region and fundamentals remain strong from a social demographic and an underlying demand perspective.”

He added: “I think it is still an issue of buyer confidence than real demand.”

He said Emaar would concentrate on delivering current projects across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It is developing schemes in Syria, Jordan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey.

In Pakistan, where the developer has started handing over homes, it has developments worth $2.4bn in Karachi and Islamabad.

Casari refused to say whether the company was eyeing expansion in other countries but added: “We always look at opportunities but at the moment we are focused on delivering what we have got in hand.”

The developer would consider re-entering Algeria, where it closed an office in July due to lack of progress on its developments, Casari added.

“The Algerian market has strong fundamentals that have to be kept in mind for future opportunities," he said.

Emaar is currently building 11 master planned communities across the region which range in size from 1.5 million to 3 million sq m.

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